DnD alignments have been around since the beginning but they are also controversial. Much ink has been spilled building up or tearing down alignments.
One of the best breakdowns and explanations of DnD alignments I have ever read is The Major’s Guide to Alignment available on the DMs Guild.
The concept of alignments has been weakened over the years each alignment used to have its own thieve’s cant-like language of hand signal and such. That has been jettisoned surely to the joy of many and the chagrin of others.
But before we go further here is a list of D&D 5e alignments with popular culture cognates.
DnD Alignments 5e List
- Lawful Good – Superman (DC Comics)
- Neutral Good – Malcolm Reynolds (Firefly)
- Chaotic Good – V (V for Vendetta)
- Lawful Neutral – Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Star Trek: TNG)
- True Neutral – Treebeard (The Lord of the Rings)
- Chaotic Neutral – Captain Jack Sparrow (The Pirates of the Caribbean)
- Lawful Evil – Darth Vader (Star Wars)
- Neutral Evil – Xenomorph (Alien)
- Chaotic Evil – The Joker (DC Comics)
Thinking of Alignment in D&D
The key to thinking of alignment is to treat it as a part of character creation like class and background. Here’s the framework:
- Background – What was your D&D character before they became an adventurer?
- Class – What does your character do?
- Alignment – How does your character act?
As you can see alignment becomes extremely important if it is considered as above. Many dungeon masters or players have never thought of alignment in those terms which is probably why there is so much confusion surrounding alignments in 5e.
Alignment thought of how your character acts is important if you want to truly role-play. If you don’t think about how your character acts then you are probably just playing yourself. That is fine of course but sometimes (usually after playing for a few years) people want to break out and play someone that is not themselves.
DnD Alignments Restrictive?
One of the main complaints of the 5e alignment system is that it is restrictive. No, it’s not. It is a framework.
Alignments provide a shorthand for role-playing different types of characters.
Are alignments simplified forms of personality types and moral codes? Yes. It is simplified for ease of play and for the fact that we are talking about a game. As mentioned above, it is a shorthand.
If you need a more detailed and nuanced discussion of alignment in 5e, once again I recommend The Major’s Guide to Alignment.